Jun Cha

Jun Cha entered our consciousness through a well publicized collaboration with The Hundreds. His capsule collection, featuring t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, and a skate deck, was decorated with a confident and distinctive hand. Cha, now 21 years old, clearly had a firm grasp of his artistic lane.

Since that collaboration, Cha has also worked with Circa, mounted an exhibition of paintings, and most interestingly graduated from the Art Center Pasadena.

I met with Jun Cha two weeks ago in Union, New Jersey. We spoke mostly about tattooing, but also about how working in academic art has helped him develop his ideas. Cha’s trajectory as an artist - he started tattooing while in high school - intrigued me and I wanted to learn more about what I perceived as a potentially tough balance between vernacular and institutional art.

Photos: Jacob Breinholt.